We live in a hyperconnected world, where most of our devices collect and send information continuously. We are not only talking about the mobile phone: the tablet, the PC, the console… even our appliances can do it. This is the case of Smart TVs, which also collect the type of content you watch and even the applications you use on them.
In addition, you can’t stop it. The simple act of turning on your Smart TV already guarantees that, in some way, your data may be exposed. Fortunately, we don’t have to fall into paranoia. Although it may not be possible to cut it off completely, we can limit the amount of information we unintentionally transmit on our televisions. But for that, we have to know what ACR technology is.
Learn what “ACR” is and how to deactivate it
The acronym ACR stands for Automatic Content Recognition. This is a technology included in multimedia devices that recognizes what you are watching, including DVDs, BluRays, and so on. Its purpose is to display advertising and content according to the consumer’s preferences. Although it is usually enabled by default on Smart TVs, you can also disable it.
This is how you can do it depending on the type of device you use on your TV or the brand of Smart TV you have:
- Amazon Fire TV: To deactivate Amazon’s ACR, go to Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings > Automatic Content Recognition.
- LG: LG TVs operate on WebOS, a Linux-based operating system. You can deactivate ACR by pressing the settings button on your remote and then navigating to All Settings > General > About This TV > User Agreements. Now, deactivate the Live Plus User Agreement.
- Samsung: The Korean brand uses Tizen for its TVs, another Linux-based system. On the latest models, go to the main menu > Settings > Support > Terms and Policy. At this point, deactivate Voice Recognition Services (this is how Samsung refers to ACR).
Please note that brands using Android (such as Google TV) will not allow us to reject Google’s privacy policy.
